Eighty percent of jobless Ohioans don't receive unemployment

[samplegirl]

By Bret Thompson on January 15, 2014 3:04 PM



According to federal labor data and a recent report from Policy Matters Ohio, fewer than just one fifth of unemployed Ohioans are receiving unemployment benefits. This is an historic low for Ohio; the state currently ranks near the bottom nationally in unemployment compensation.

"Ohio's economy continues to struggle to create new jobs, and it is disappointing that few jobless residents receive crucial financial support that helps keep people in the labor market searching for work," Zach Schiller, research director for Policy Matters Ohio, told the Norwalk Reflector. "People who have worked and who are attempting to find work should have a safety net, and this safety net has some very large holes in it when only 20 percent of the unemployed are receiving benefits."

The report comes on the heels of Congress's December decision to halt federal unemployment benefits, causing at least 52,000 Ohioans to lose their benefits. However, Senator Rob Portman was one of six Republicans who joined with Democrats to vote to allow the unemployment extension bill to proceed to a debate last week. "Not paying for the extension adds to the nation's historic debt, causing more uncertainty for the economy and making it harder to create jobs," Portman said.

Unemployment benefits also serve as a catalyst in the search for work, since the federal program has work-search requirements in place. "Too few Ohioans receive benefits already, so it is imperative that Congress votes to extend federal benefits to the long-term.


http://www.progressohio.org/blog/2014/01/eighty-percent-of-jobless-ohioans-dont-receive-unemployment.html

[beachbum bob]

1. hopefully they remember in Nov 2014

when they vote who blocked extending benefits

[Wilms]

2. ^

[Bandit]

3. Unemployment benefits are paid for EXACTLY the same way Republicans say Tax Cuts are.

Republicans say because of tax cuts more money will come back in revenues for the Government and that is how they pay for themselves. We all know this is not true, however it is true for unemployment benefits. Every penny that is doled out for benefits is immediately put back into the economy, whereas tax cuts usually just go into a savings account or some off shore haven and not back into economy.

[ck4829]

4. Hearing about it myself, it's a very inefficient system to say the least

From taking a month and a half to told you are OK to receive benefits with some more weeks before you actually do to employers (Who can access the online system to) can just click a button contesting an applicant's benefits (Yes, that's all they have to do) and the system calls it 'mutualization of benefits', and guess who has to then hast fill out all the paperwork and call people and wait some more in order to contest that one click?

It needs to be easier because the people I know who took unemployment truly lost their jobs through no fault of their own.